From Dawn to Dusk
by Luminosity Nights
Summary: In which the Uzumaki clan are a Yakuza group and their 24-year-old boss Naruto is forced to attend the meeting of the strongest seven. Having to work with a group of people she doesn't know, Naruto ends finding friends that would follow her to the ends of the Earth. Only to get turned into babies. SkyNaruto! FemNaruto!
1. Prologue

**I do not own Naruto of KHR**

 **I have done it! Its is incredibly short, but it is only a prologue. I also promise to publish more after I write the next five chapters of this story. I also get around to posting my own Author/ Profile page within the next week. It shall have brief outlines of things I am planning.**

 **Please leave a Review**

Bratva boss, Andrei Sokolov quickly downs his glass of scotch before pouring himself another. This time he tries to savor the taste of the liquid as it touches his lips and burns his throat. There is nothing wrong with the scotch; it is fine stuff, the kind you could only get your hands on at a price that would make the kings of old cringe, but oh how he wished it was. In reality, it was something much grimmer that was preventing him from enjoying his drink.

Wrinkles crease on his forehead, and as he scowls, it becomes apparent why the way his eyebrows furrowed together as the sneer on his face deepens is as good a reason as any. With every moment his dissatisfaction with his current predicament increases.

He hesitates, a mere moment of indecision hanging in the air before he pulls open the small drawer on the side of his mahogany desk and grabs the syringe and two vails.

He finishes his glass of scotch and grabs his handgun off the corner of his desk. In a few swift steps, he had covered the width of the room and opened the door. Only a mere few seconds pass since he had stepped out of the of his office and shut the door behind him when static is heard over his walkie-talkie. He unclips the device from his belt and holds it up to his ear. Dread bubbles in his stomach as he listens to the latest news from his men.

"Boss this is unit 4 reporting in *static*-"

"Run you dumbass, run *static*!"

"Back up we need back *static*-"

"This is unit 5 reporting in we have lost all contact with unit 4. Sir, what are orders? Over."

Andrei hesitates for the second time that day. That was very out of character for him; he wasn't a hesitant man and cared very little for his men. In his eyes, they were nothing more than tools to be disposed of later, but unit 5 was different. Unit 5 was made up of his best, his own Varia, sure they weren't actually that good but they were his guardians and he was their sky. The bond between a sky and its elements is an odd thing the stronger the bond, the harder it was to continue living life without it. Unfortunately, the bond between Andrei Sokolov and his guardians wasn't that strong.

The bravta boss pushed down a button on the walkie-talkie and issued his command, "Move forward, intercept the intruder at all cost. Over."

Knowing full well he was sending them to there deaths and planning an escape for himself.

Almost everyone in the underworld knew who Asura was, one of the few mafioso murders that the Vindice left alone. She appeared five years ago out of the blue. Very little is known about her. Evering down to her flame type was a mystery. All they had to go one was that her weapon of chose was a bagh nakh (AU: Indian weapon; translates to tiger claw; think Wolverine gloves but shorter) and she was known for her kabuki fox mask. Hell, they didn't even know what color hair she had because of the damn hood she had on all the time.

The rest was rumors. No that was necessarily true; if she was here now taking out his men one by one, it couldn't be just a mere rumor. At least that's the conclusion he arrived at when opening the door at the end of the hallway and stumbling out of the base onto the snowy tundra of Ukraine.

He had run the moment he had stepped out into the snow. He had moved towards the outcrop of the forest only taking a glimpse back.

Asura was standing there waiting. By God, the man had never been so scared in his life. He continues to run towards the forest she follows.

With one hand he pulled out the gun and fired one round after another. With the other he is going for the walkie-talkie, the sky turns it on checking on something he already knew the answer to. Only static responds.

There was only one reasonable explanation for the lack of response from his guardians, but he doesn't morn. Instead, Andrei reaches for his gun and fires a few shots at his foe, which she dodges with incredible ease. So this is the power of the one who is out to obliterate the last of the drug TAILS. This was the person who torn apart and destroyed [mafia] families to complete their goal.

He didn't stop running even though he was losing, badly. His opponent for her part is mostly unscathed. Andrei does, however, recognizes one wound: a slash across her right leg. It didn't take much speculation to figure it came from his sun guardian; he was the only person that came to mind when thinking of sword wounds and persons with the ability to deliver a blow to someone of Asura's standing.

His nerves increase tenfold. If his strongest guardian was only able to injure her what chance did he have?

Already having received a severe wound to the gut the man spends little time ducking behind a pine tree to avoid an onslaught of kunai and reload his gun. There is little time wasted in reaching for the last of his ammo clips at his waist, however, handling them was entirely different matter. The man curses extravagantly, at the jeering pain in his side that came with the small movement of his arm. Shaking, his hand's fumble with the magazine before dropping it into the snow.

Biting back an angry cry the distraught man look at the clip on the ground; there was no possible way he could reach it. So with little else to do -give that was the last of the ammunition- he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out the syringe and one of the small flask. Wanting to waste no time he sets the vile into the syringe. With his hands still trembling he pulls up his sleeve and does his best to position the shot; it hits the vain.

The drug rushes through his system. It burns, oh god, it burns. A black flame engulfs his body taking on the shape of an unidentifiable animal. As the black flames bubble, they take on a semi-opaque characteristic. A moment later the pain from the drug abated, going so far as to numb his injury from Asura. Slowly and carefully he raises one arm to test his limits. There was no apparent suffering other than a small twinge in his stomach. On top of that, the flames seemed to do nothing to restrict his movements.

He could hear the birds chirping in the trees and small animals scurrying under the shrubbery. Without even trying he could smell the bitter tang of his wound which was masked under the overwhelming smell of pine needles.

So this was the power of TAILS.

Andrei had to admit he was rather surprised when he snift the air out of instinct that sure as hell wasn't his own. His surprise doubled when he actually smelled something over the intense fragrance of pine needles. Ramen, he smelled ramen and dog. The smell becomes stronger with every passing second. It approaches, getting closer and closer. He can hear it now too. Step by step, it's pace slows considerably upon nearing his hiding spot. It is right behind him now; he can't hear it -the movement had stopped- but he can smell it. When the movement starts up again not a nanosecond later her can hear it: the almost inaudible wrinkle of clothing, the sound of metal cutting through wood like butter.

Diving out of the way at the last possible second, the sky flame user does his best to refrain from gawking. Not at the fact that someone cut wood - anyone worth their salt can do that - but at the new addition to Asura's appearance.

Reddish -orange flames bubble against her skin much like his own. Seeing the flames on someone else but his view of the flames into perspective. The mask-wearing women flames where translucent just like his own, the only noticeable difference -other than the color- was the shape two points sit on the top of her head like the ears of an animal and the tail.

Though some small part of Andrei wants to look at his back to check if he had a tail as well, the rest of him rages. All of a sudden Asura's whole purpose destroy the drug tails seems vindictive. How dare she use what appears to be the same drug while saying others can't. How dare she go so far as to murder others for such a petty reason.

All Andrei wants to do is sit there being angry, but there isn't time for that because Asura lunges at him.

Andrei jumps back, barely missing the metal claw aimed towards his gut. Running back towards her he launches a flying kick; it lands with a satisfying crunch.

This time Asura is the one to stumble backward. Recovering rather quickly she slashes her weapon towards his chest. A sense of pride forms in said chest as he blocks her attack sending a punch towards her throat. When it lands Asura gives off a noise that sounds a lot like a growl. The fight quickly accelerates into a flurry of kicks and punches and in Asuras case slashes.

In all honesty Asura's hand to hand combat was atrocious, her only saving grace is her speed and deadly weapons on her hands.

Landing the third blow, this time to the gut, he once again hears an odd rumbling that he verifies as an honest to god snarl. A snarl. From a human. A person snarled like an animal. For some reason that didn't sit right with him.

The flame pressure in the air suddenly spiked. Flames that covered her body swirled around her, converging at her tailbone, forming another tail.

All of a sudden the scales are tilted in the other direction. Being pushed into a proverbial corner, Andrei decides to take one out of Asura's book and channels his flames, hoping that might feed the TAILS drug inside his system. Andrei concluded if that if it worked, he might form a tail of his own, allowing him to gain a 'power up' so to speak.

It ends up working a little too well. One tail bubbles into existence. His skin begins to shed slowly like that of a snake. Red seeps out in the places flesh used to sit, but it's worth it because he is stronger now he can keep up with her. For about two minutes he does, he matches her blow to blow, he lands a few then she lands a few. It ends rather abruptly when his opponent sprouts one more tail leaving the ratio 1:3.

Not wanting to be outdone Andrei does the same. This time the effects are disastrous, skin starts peeing at an incredible rate leaving more blood the flesh. However, the pain doesn't bother him it's the fact that the flame cloak is flickering on and off out of existence, like a faulty light bulb.

No no no, he wouldn't let the cloak die. He did want -wouldn't let the cloak to die. He didn't want to lose this power. On more of a whim than anything he takes out the second vail and jams it into his arm. He barely has time to register one more tail had appeared before the world turns red around him and he's out for BLOOD.

BLOODBLOODBLOODBLOODBLOOD

That's all he wants now BLOOD. That's what has his veins singing and his adrenaline pumping BLOOD. It's the reason he can keep up with her because he now has this unexplainable urge to spill BLOOD.

To KILL

To DESTROY his opponent.

To REMOVE the mistake.

To become WHOLE again.

By the time Asura sunk her claw into the beast chest Bratva boss, Andrei Sokolov was already long gone. All that was left was a corpse which was more thing than man. It lay in the snow about one mile from the burning building next to the forest, eyes wide open revealing red cornea with three tomoe staring into nothingness.

If he had lived a second longer, he would have heard a single sentence being uttered,

"It's done Sasuke, you can rest now."

* * *

" **Deep breath kit, take deep breaths, if worse comes to worse, we can rip off his head,"** Kurama ever the voice of reason says trying to calm the now frazzled girl.

The girl shows no outward signs of acknowledgment towards the fox or of being frazzled, "I'm sorry I think you have me confused with my sister she disappeared 12 years ago."

Woichmono, the man in front of her smiled and hit his forehead with his hand in an 'oops' gesture, "Oh silly me, I must be addressing the wrong retired mass murderer who destroyed the TAILS drug before going missing four years ago. Who also happened to be the missing heir Naruto Uzumaki. Oops."

The man who clearly belonged in a mental ward pulled out a card which read: 'Meeting of the Strongest Seven. Be there!' Before saying, "If you see Naruto, please give this to her," and vanishing.

In the grand scheme of things, this was merely the end of the beginning and the beginning of the middle. The end wouldn't come until much later, but our protagonist had no way of knowing this. She had long since decided to spend the rest of her days quietly as a Yakuza boss, squashing that rebellious wave of adventure whenever it came to mind because Naruto Uzumaki would be damned if she let another one of her precious people die. She would protect them at all cost even if she had to wear a (figurative) mask the rest of her life.

Or at least that's what she tells her self because as much as she wants to deny it, she needs elements.

Naruto can't help it shes lonely.


	2. Chapter 1: I Prescelti Sette

**I do not own Naruto or KHR**

 **Hello, fellow humans, I have taken the time to edit this, so if you see any mistakes, please let me know. If you are reading this on the day of 1/7/18 or 1/8/18 -depending on where you- are the third chapter will be coming out tonight.**

.1 Naruto

Besides herself the room was unoccupied. Off to the side of a wall, a television looms, overlooking a round wooden table. This all sat in what she supposed was the middle of the room, but she couldn't get a good visual in her surroundings. Around the table there are seven wooden chairs; eight if you count the one she was bound to.

Naruto sat there fuming, if she weren't currently gaged she would have been spewing out profanities at the top of her lungs, chewing up and spitting out that Checker-faced bastard, who had demanded the presence of the strongest seven, under the guise of a simple job invitation. She had taken one look at his all too enthusiastic minion and said no thanks. Oddly enough that had been the critical factor in the decision-making process, the thought that someone could naturally be more hyper than she was super fishy. There was also the fact he knew way too much about her.

Her suspicions about the man were proven correct; he seemed to be unrelenting in his endeavor to get her to join his team. It had gotten pretty bad, and he began appearing out of seemingly no were requesting she take the job. Naruto didn't understand what he failed to grasp about the word retired -and people say she's stubborn. She only says this because he had sent his request to 'Naruto Uzumaki aka Asura' two people she had gone to great length to make sure where not connect with each other or herself 'Naruko'.

Not too long after her 18th time refusing him (Yes she was counting), he committed the sin of all sins: he bribed her, with Ramen. She found this transgression unforgivable. How dare he sully ramen's good name for something as simple as a petty bribe.

So Naruto did what she did best, what she had done all her life she ran. Except this time was different this time she was caught and chained down with ironically enough Uzumaki chains, meaning she couldn't access her flames. In other words, she was defenseless. It wasn't that big of a shock to find that didn't sit well with her. She was a decedent of hyperactive ninjas, a prankster, one of the few humans with the instincts of a wild animal and most importantly a sky. Anyone with half a brain knows you can't hold down a proper sky, so she would be damned if she'd let some chains get to her. That was a promise, and Naruto Uzumaki never breaks a promise! Dattebayo!

The fact she had a shuriken hidden in her left shoe helped.

* * *

.2 Reborn

Let it be said trying to reach ones shoe while being in a chair -hands behind your back- is not easy. Naruto discovered this while fruitlessly trying to get her hand to reach her foot.

Clenching her teeth together and letting out a muffled sigh she extends her arm once more. Despite her above average tolerance for pain she had to admit there was only so much strain the human arm could take before giving out. Never had she hated the length of her arms this much or ever in general.

Stretching her arm out in what she told her self would be her last attempt at the hidden weapon. But knowing herself as well as she did, she knew she wouldn't give in no matter how many times she told her self to.

Scooting herself upwards as much as her bonds would allow, the blonde woman leans backward. For the first time, her hands seem to grasp at something other than air or the first set of chair legs, the second leg of the chair.

Feeling extraordinarily triumphant and ignoring the counterproductive and physically impossible urge to throw her hands in the air, shouting, "Yeah! I did it! Dattebayo!"

Replacing this with the more productive, 'So close, just a little bit more.'

Her arms were begging for a break, but she was so close, she couldn't give in now. Leaning backward just a little bit more -putting extra strain on her legs and torso. She reaches out barely grazing the black, rubbery material of her sandal. At the very same moment the laws of physics to make an entrance. As the chair gives off an unappealing squeaking sound, Naruto can't help but think this was revenge for all the skipped science classes in high school.

Falling backward, the chair and her own body weight apply an uncomfortable amount of pressure on her arms- the chains digging into said arms didn't help. Thankfully the damage was minimal due to the fact she had maneuvered her eyes hands in such a way that they would take the base of the force, leaving her left palm raw the right as always is covered in bandages. Any more force on her hands would result in blood, that would not be good.

As if the fact she stuck on the ground wasn't suspicious enough.

"Ho, well this is rather suspicious isn't it?" A voice cuts through the darkness in perfect Italian. Naruto cranes her neck in hopes of getting a glimpse of the new person, however quickly finds the human neck isn't that flexible.

Walking into her line of sight, he crotches before her chair, allowing her to take in his appearance as he does the same. The man is nicely dressed; he dons a professionally tailored suit, yellow button up shirt and tie. On his spiky black hair sit an equally black fedora with a matching yellow band. A hint of green protrudes from behind his hat; closer inspection reveals that it is, in fact, a lizard.

He inspects her one last time before reluctantly deciding there was no more information he had gathered without risking angering his latest employer. What Naruto didn't know was in reality, the dark-haired man wouldn't be content with an unknown until he knew the history of there life and that of there parents.

Standing from his crouching position at her side, he makes his way over to her feet and points to her left shoe. Even though he had yet to say anything and she was having a hard time looking at him or what he was pointing at -she had a pretty good idea as to what was going to happen next and glared furiously at the man.

His dark eyes twinkle in amusement, and he gives a smirk that makes him look rather attractive, "It would be a shame if I have to kill you. Your rather pretty, in any other situation I would most likely be asking you on a date," he says almost wistfully, ignoring her now murderous look.

"Now, is this the shoe you were trying so hard to reach?" It is less of a question and more of a provocative statement. They both knew the answer, so instead of waiting for a response or permission -even though both where impossible given her current predicament- he takes off her left combat boot.

"Leon" He mutters. As if on command the lizard makes its way off its makeshift perch (fedora) and climbs on to his free hand. Upon resting in his palm, the green lizard freaking transforms into a knife and starts mercilessly cutting her shoe. That could not be normal, but then again who was she to talk about wired animals.

"His names Leon," the man waves his 'Leon' knife around for emphasis, "He is a chameleon, not a lizard," he says answering her unasked question. She had only known him for the briefest amount of time but, he seemed eerily good at that; responding to things that were left unsaid.

He promptly goes back to cutting up her shoe. A more accurate description would be performing surgery on her shoe seeing as he was now clad in a doctors smock, hair net, and face mask; hell even Leon had transformed from a knife to a scalpel.

Even with growing up in the underground world, Naruto has to say regarding strange -and quick changes- this guy takes the cake... maybe they should change the saying to takes the Ramen. That was a much more agreeable saying.

"Work quickly Leon, I think we're losing the patent."

Yeah, this guy definitely takes the Ramen.

Pulling out the shuriken he murmurs, "Leon I think we found the problem."

* * *

.3 Lal Mirch

The only thing that kept Naruto from dying of sheer annoyance was the fact she was the annoy-er not the annoy-ie and refused to be out down by the man with the awesome sideburns.

It wasn't as if the man had done anything that could be classified as purposefully annoying, -other than dress up as a surgeon; take away her most substantial chance of escape, and FUCKING READ HER MIND! No, it was the fact he wasn't doing anything at all; just sitting there, watching her with his soulless black eyes in the most outrages way possible. The reason she found this infuriating was that not 30 minutes ago he was striking up a one-sided conversation, then all of a sudden bam, 'If you so much as make one suspicions movement, or even think about escaping I'll shot you.'

The words had honestly taken a moment to register in her mind, but by the time they did, he was silent. All signs of conversation -however, they once sided they may be- having disappeared.

It was like he was baiting her to make a move; to slip up and give away her position.

Nothing had been learned about the man except he had an ego the size of Japan. But who knows maybe he was compensating for something. Her internal snickering is cut off by a *BANG*.

Smoke wafts from the gun the man is now holding. Naruto looks down in between her feet where a new hole lays in the ground. The fedora-wearing man smiles like a shark, "Oops, my hand slipped."

The hell it did! Once she got out of here, Naruto was going to kill him her self and dance on his grave. She would start with the chameleon.

She takes a deep breath; it was like she was a bottle filled with killer intent just waiting to leak out towards the man. To much pressure and the bottle would explode.

No matter how appealing giving him a taste of his own medicine may seem...

God, she needed something to think about something else or she would turn out like Kurama who thinks destruction is the solution to everything. On pure instinct alone her mind wanders off to ramen; the hot broth that sends tingles down your spine; the long, soft, wavy noodles; the occasional appearance of her namesake, naruto floating on the top-

*GROWL*

The man across from her raises a skeptical eye brown at the unladylike noise. Naruto ignores him and his aggravating amusement -at her expense- in favor of finding something else to entertain herself. She allows her eyes to wander around the dark, mostly bare room; there was nothing there except a table, chairs, a tv with nothing on it, the annoying man with the odd sideburns and the women pointing a gun at him.

"Chaos Sergeant Lal Mirch," he drawls calmly as if he has guns pointed at his head all the time.

Given his personality; Naruto wouldn't be surprised if that proved correct. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if he was internationally wanted.

The women's blue-black hair bounces stay flat her back as she inches closer, "Reborn you're wanted in 10 countries for suspected of murder, another five other countries on account of murder and international wanted for involvement with Mafia. I am going to have to ask you to come with me."

 _'I called it, dattebayo!',_ the captive blonde cheers mentally.

She could already see the wanted posters in her head.

Wanted:

' Annoying bastard with awesome sideburns aka Reborn: for the crime of plaguing the Earth with his existence.'

"You won't do it." He says with the utmost certainty.

"Don't mess with me Reborn," came the irritable response.

"No you won't this is a little outside your jurisdiction, would what your superiors say if they found out you were in Italy on an illegal job no less."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Of course not Lal I am a gentleman after all; I would never sink as low as to threaten someone. I am merely reminding you what an awful occurrence that would be."

The blue haired women snarls, "Give one good reason why I shouldn't put a bullet in your fucking brain."

"There is a witness." He says making an off-handed gesture towards Naruto; who promptly looked in the opposite direction as if to say 'I don't see anything.'

Reborn lets out an exasperated sigh and Lal's lips quirk upwards at the corner of her mouth, but others wise shows no signs of acknowledgment.

"Besides that."

"You would never find answers."

"Wha-"

"Must I spell this out. You were born outside the mafia, and yet you have active flames." He cloaks his hand a yellow fire for emphasis. "While it is not unheard of for people in the army to awaken their flames -only rare- it is completely unheard of for them to get a grip on their new power. You understand your flames, and you know how to use them. No matter how hard you try, you can't stop using them because it feels like they are part of you. They leave with a feeling of listlessness; you find your self-uncertain of who you want to follow. Your searching for something but you doesn't know what. All you do know is that it has something to do with that strange fire."

Lal's even whitening knuckles grip her shotgun like a lifeline. Being tied to the chair is the thing that keeps Naruto from going over and comforting her fellow female. As much as it in her nature to eliminate threats and stay wary of others, it was also second nature to her to help those around her. The man keeps talking; Naruto doesn't doubt the fact he's aware of everything in the room including the sergeant bitterness and her growing sympathies for bluette.

"So you run to the one's place you know has answers, the underworld. You start taking jobs, but no one with any noteworthy information will take because of your background. Then you got offered this job; a well paying, long lasting job with six other incredibly powerful people. So I came imagine if anything happened anything happened to any one of us our employer wouldn't be all to happy. Especially if it was at the hand of our own teammates. So Lal what's it going to be me or answers?"

There was silence for a moment, then a sigh as Lal plus up a chair and sits down. "Is that what you are feeling; it that why you are here?"

He gives a smirk that doesn't quite reach his eyes, "No, I am above such useless emotions."

Lair.

* * *

.4 Plans

Naruto's head hurt. There was that name: Reborn. It was a pseudonym -no mother could ever hate their child that much- and she couldn't help but find it familiar. It itched at the back of her mind like something that should be painfully obvious. Well, that might of had to do with the fact he was well known.

Overall that didn't matter, as long as she knew they would pose a threat to her escape she was fine. Except for the apparent fact that she had no plan of escape what so ever. God how she wished she had her calligraphy set on her, then she would be able to change the pathway of the seal engraved on the chain, thus making them ineffective. The ink would work because it was special, it contained some flame residue. Nothing else would work in like that in this situation unless she was able to channel her flames or if it contained flame residue.

Reborn had also given away a small but important piece of information: Italy. She was in god damn Italy. The masked man had taken her all the way from Hakone, Japan to god knows where, Italy.

Despite the fact she had been on the run she hadn't left Hakone. Meaning she had been ambushed within the first five hours of her disappearance.

How long had it been since she was kidnapped? At least 12 hours -that was the estimated time from Japan to Italy.

Damn it, damn it, damn it all! Being kidnapped had done a number on her; not physically but emotionally. Pity and self-loathing bubble under the surface. It was almost like she couldn't help it, she was so weak!

How was she supposed to protect her precious people if she couldn't help her self?

Naruto clenches her fist in anger; her still raw flesh is easily broken. Blood leaks out of her newly created wound.

That's when the idea hits her! She had a plan of escape.

Now came for the hard part: waiting.

* * *

.5 Verde

The next person who walks in the room seems unaware of there presence altogether. After he pushes open the door with his back, a book in a language Naruto didn't know in one hand; a notepad in the other hand, he moves to his set without so much as looking at them or anywhere other than the book he seemed so immersed in.

Naruto can't help but notice the green stubble -so his hair wasn't dyed- and bags under his as he pulls up a chair without some much as glancing upward.

He seems wholly consumed in taking notes. The rhythmic sound of a foot tapping on the concrete floor comes from his polished black shoe. As each moment passes, the man seems more and more consumed in his notes. The taping seemed to increase with his rising interest, to the point where the melody has long since abated. Now there was nothing but the rhythmless sound of the shoe hitting the floor was grating on everyone's nerves including her own. Even if they were concealing it a hell of a lot better than she is.

Naruto knows she's a petty person; it's hard not to acknowledge that fact when the mere sound of a shoe hitting the concrete floor had her contemplating suicide. But she honestly didn't expect Reborn and Lal Mirch to feel the same way towards the continuous noise; even if neither of them showed it.

Unfortunately, she can't say anything because of the gag in her mouth. Yes, she is still mad about that.

Thankfully Reborn, who takes stride in showing no emotion on his face as opposed to Lal and herself, "Chaos I'm Reborn."

The green haired man doesn't even look up from his notes as he waves offhandedly, "Yes I know who you are, worlds greatest hitman Reborn. It is safe to assume we all know who each other. This is a meeting of the strongest seven meaning we all have a reputation of some sort." Avoiding the most obvious social cue of responding with your name and insulting Naruto at the same time.

Lal rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to speak but is cut off by guess who: Reborn, "And who might you be?"

He adjusts his glasses, "Verde."

Naruto doesn't hear this though; she is to caught up in her world. The familiarity at hearing the name Reborn had clicked into place. 'Because he just had to be the worlds greatest hitman,' she thinks with a sigh. She undoubtedly wouldn't be home for the meeting with the Hibari clan. Her mom and Sakura were going to kill her if she didn't die trying to escape.

The tapping doesn't stop either.

* * *

.6 Viper

Ghost didn't exist; Naruto knew that just as well as any other seal master. Flame remnants on the other hand did. They were basically the same thing, flame remnant being the politically correct term. However, the blonde Uzumaki had never been one for technicalities; ergo she found nothing wrong when she immediately jumped to a ghost.

The ghost in question was the only thing Naruto could think about as the thing -he?- Floated through the wall. After that is was merely a matter of time before she started mentally reciting the half memorized prayers to all the know gods asking them to banish this spirit.

The sweat dripping down her neck wasn't comfortable, but her attention was on the floating apparition, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

The ghost raises pale finger and points at Naruto; his black cloak billows ominously behind him, "Mou, whats wrong with her?"

Her prayers to ancient deities clearly weren't working so she moves on to random mental threats such as, 'Don't come any closer I have a giant fox made out of flames inside of me and I am not afraid to use it .' Or 'If you lay one finger on me I will exorcize you ass back to where ever you came from ~ttebayo!'

However neither of these things seemed to work; Naruto chalked it up to the fact that the universe hated her dutifully ignoring that no one could actually read her mind -besides Reborn- leaving her prays left unheard.

"I think she is scared of you," Lal states as if nobody else could see that.

The -supposed- flame remnant sighs, "I should charge you for giving me such obvious information."

Charge? Like a price? As in taking something that carries worth?

Dear god, the ghost was going to take Lal's soul!

This was the end. She might not have known Lal very long (15 minutes), but she had a good run.

A hand hits the back of Naruto's head, and she turns to glare her assailant, "Idiot, Viper isn't a ghost they're a con-man. They trick people out of there money."

As if she would trust anything he says; for all Naruto knows Reborn can be possessed. He could have been possessed from the get-go. The real Reborn could actually be a nice person.

"Mou, I should charge you for thinking something so insulting about me."

"Are we all really going to assume Reborn was telling the truth, he could have been lying."

"I can read minds."

"That is highly improbable," Verde says looking up from his work to join the conversation.

"I should take you gambling with me."

And just like that Naruto was once again forgotten about.

* * *

.7 Fon

If the man's clothing weren't a hint towards the man's identity, his face -and the monkey- certainly were. She knew that face, the person connected to it was a bit more of an unknown then the other bearer of that face was, but what the hell. A familiar face was a familiar face; no matter how many times she had dyed Lichi her favorite shade of orange.

Predictably, Lichi took one look at Naruto and let out a blood-curdling shriek. For the first time, that day the Uzumaki boss was glad she didn't have access to her Kurama enhanced senses because damn, nothing that loud could come out of something that tiny.

All eyes turn to the monkey then to Naruto. She continues watching Lichi out of the corner of her eye. The scared monkey was currently hiding in the man's shirt, her head barely poking out of the neck of the shirt, much like a hippo barely peering out of the water. Unable to turn to her nervous habit of scratching her head sheepishly she looks at her feet, taking in the fact she still was missing a shoe.

The man lets out a small sigh before bowing slightly, "Hello I am Fon," he says as if the monkey hadn't just given them all tinnitus.

He quickly sits himself down next to her smiling calmly; acting oblivious to the fact that no one had yet to speak besides himself and that his acquaintance -you don't make friends with people in this kind of work unless they are part of clan or family- was tied up next to him.

This was clearly revenge for the time she gave him a mohawk in his sleep.

Lal being the first on to get over her ear ache -besides Reborn who had in Leon ear plugs and Viper who had disappeared- makes her dissatisfaction known, "What the hell is wrong with your monkey?"

Verde who was also still nursing his own ears rolls his eyes, "Screaming is a natural response to anything that is potentially harmful or scary as you could put it. When you add that to animals already natural reaction to threats, I image the sound would be far from pleasant."

Fon covers his mouth with one robed hand and smiles, "That's exactly right actually. Lichi has had one too many bad experiences with our friend over here."

Naruto closes her eyes and inhales, being careful as to show no emotion and evaluates the situation. So far Fon hadn't shared any information that could put her or him in harm's way. However, that didn't mean anything if it came down to it he would end her life. There would be remorse though.

"The real question here is how you know her." Reborn drawls, having added himself back into the conversation.

"I don't really, we just ran into each other on a job."

There would be remorse. Well, that's if the weapons scroll he discreetly handed to her was any indication.

* * *

.8 Skull

To say Skulls arrival was flamboyant would be like saying that the ocean is a little wet. Not that was a bad thing; he kind of reminded her of Pervy Sage in that way.

"I am the great and powerful Skull de Morte, feel free to bask in my awesomeness!"

It made her nostalgic.

It was also a great source of entertainment. There was definitely a certain pleasure to be found from not being the one shot at. However, there wasn't any of being the only person who couldn't dodge the two seconds between Skull giving off his speech and declaring himself the team leader; Reborn had started shooting. Revealing one very apparent thing to the trained eye, Skull had almost zero combat training.

"He is worse than my idiot student." Comments Lal dryly.

"I've always been interested in taking a student. I hope you don't mind me asking what is it like?" Inquires Fon while turning his head ever so slightly to the right, avoiding one of Reborn's shots.

"Well-" The sergeant starts only to be interrupted by the source of the bullets.

"I wouldn't ask her advice on training anything but dogs," Reborn adds, between shots while Verde dodges most of them without looking up from his notes, allowing the projectiles to find the stuntman who was hiding behind the scientists.

"He is nothing like a dog Reborn!"

"He sure as hell follows you around like one."

"Mou, Fon if you need advice on training anyone I could give it to you, for a fee of course."

"Or you could get advice from the great Skull!"

"It is highly unlikely-"

"Since everyone is present it is time to start the meeting..."

And just like that, all eyes were on the television screen.

* * *

.9 Checkerface

Naruto looked up at the screen with nothing but malice in her eyes. His voice was powerful and commanding. Not like that of a sky or any other type of good leader just someone with experience.

She didn't like him one bit.

"You may call me Checkerface."

Reborn and Skull had retreated back to their seats and had also taken up looking at the man. The stuntman had his hand raised above his head with a clear question.

"Please hold all questions until the end, Skull de Morte."

The biker lowers his hand.

"As I stated in my earlier address to you all, you about gathered here to do a series of task for me."

Reborn looks up inquisitively, "I fail to see why you need all of us here."

Skull lets out an angry sound, "Hey how-"

The hitman fires his gun, "Case in point."

The man in the iron hat merely smiles, "Well I do no this team is a bit unconventional, but I will be completely honest. For this to work the strongest seven flame users -one from each category must donate their flames. Unfortunately, one of you really doesn't want to be here and will most likely give us a hard time when it comes to the donation aspect of this job"

All eyes turn towards Naruto.

Crap

She swallows nervously as she begins to dig her fingernail into her raw skin, letting blood seep out; commencing her escape plan early.

"So for this to work you must be able to complete your first mission or your all fired and go home with only half your pay never having to see me or each other again."

"Will you increase the pay if we succeed?" Ask Viper in an oddly enthusiastic voice

"Sure"

"So whats the job?" He asks rather quickly.

"To catch Asura alive."

Reborn raises a black eyebrow, "You mean like the mass murder whose identity nobody knows? The one who disappeared four years ago? Who eradicated famigilas? This might actually be a challenge."

Verde pushes up his glasses, and eyes Naruto, "Also what does that have to do with her?"

The man in the iron hat smiles, "That is her"

She was so screwed, Dattebayo.

* * *

1.0

Kawahira lets out a breath of air. He was tired, so very tired.

He also felt a headache coming on. A mass murder /Yakuza boss, a shady scientist, a hitman, a conman/illusionist, an Air Force sergeant, a martial artist, and a stuntman/ biker.

What could possibly go wrong?

Sometimes he wondered what Sephira and the original Asura (the father of the Uzumaki clan) where thinking entrusting this power to the humans. Other times he found it's awfully amusing.

Watching the future bearers of the rainbow curse scramble around trying to find their future sky; he defiantly was leaning more towards the latter.


	3. Chapter 2: Venice, the City of Cats

**I do not own Naruto or KHR**

 **Once again to those who are reading right now on the date 1/7/18 or 1/8/18, the third chapter is coming, and I am warning you now it is a prologue.**

1.2 Gondola

20 years ago Naruto was dragged to Venice by Minato and Kushina for a business meeting. Even though Naruto was reluctant at first she eventual dubbed Venice cool. While Kushina was over the moon her baby girl loved the place where Minato proposed to her, Minato was dreading his impending doom. It wasn't that her father didn't want her to be happy, he just didn't want her to destroy one of Italy's treasured cities. The last thing he needs on his hands was another gang war started by his only child.

And for a while everything was fine. The first day was spent on adjusting to the time change and Naruto jabbing at Sasuke for being air sick. The second was spent running from gelato shop to gelato shop in hopes of catching up to Naruto while Sasuke explained 'There is no Ramen flavor.' After which they went to the small cafe were Minato 'got the balls to finally propose' as Kushina lovingly put it.. The thirds day was where everything shot to hell, Minato just didn't know it.

It had been the morning of there last free day before that had to start attending meetings, and that of the dinner party was going to be with famigila the Uzumaki clan would be allying with. Naruto, mortified to learn that she would be attending, had accidentally dropped all her -and Sasuke's- nice clothing into the canal. The rest of the day they spent shopping for formal apparel for the two children. Having killed most of the time before the event, but still having some left Naruto suggested they take a rowboat there, exclaiming she had never been on one.

Minato raised a skeptical eyebrow, saying, "Oh, then what was that with the hot spring indecent?" Other than that comment he had made no arguments against going and even explained that the 'rowboats' where called gondola.

Naruto having never gone on a gondola before; chased one down with Sasuke being dragged behind her. The first gondola driver they came across was a disagreeable man with no love for children. He had taken one look at her, and her wild child looks and Sasuke bedraggled (from being dragged across Venice ) appearance and refused to give them a ride. Even after she -Sasuke- promised her parents would be going with them.

He had simply said, "I don't take your kind."

Her childish mind had taken this as meaning Japanese and despite Sasuke's near perfect Italian, courtesy of Iruka-sensei, they still were most clearly Japanese. In reality, the man had meant children. Once again Naruto, naive and childish, Naruto fumed. She had heard about discrimination from her tutor (Iruka-sensei) but never expect to be subjected to it. For some reason, this struck a nerve with Naruto. It made her mad. It reminded her of home and how people treated Sasuke because he wasn't an Uzumaki. It reminded her of how no one treated her like her person like she was her parent's shadow and not her own person.

So she walked away taking Sasuke with her.

They ended up going on a different gondola, but that wasn't the point.

The point was that for the last week of the trip Naruto made it her top priority to familiarize her self with the area. It was pure coincidence that the Uzumaki bought an empty warehouse that meows where reported coming out of a day after numerous pet stores where reported 'robbed of there cats.' I was also complete bullshit to link this to the fact that truckloads of catnip and fish where delivered to the said warehouse. This was also completely unrelated to the fact that Naruto had been seen leaving the hotel in a cat costume, Sasuke having too much pride for that refused to be seen in one, but they both ended up smelling a lot like fish. All of this was most certainly not connected to the fact that on their last day in Venice the mean Gondola driver was seen making a mad dash across the city covered in glue and catnip, being chased by a swarm of angry cats.

The best part was watching that one particular cat, get drenched in the canal as the man jumped in.

* * *

1.4 Armed

Not long after his death and extreme use of his arm did Naruto begin to panic. Only when it had taken on a white tint, and she had started worrying. This leads her to best friend and only consultant at the time: Kurama. Over the course of there partnership Naruto had taken minimal interest and understanding of how his powers work. The reasoning behind his -or her's now- turning white was because it was technically dead, the only keeping it from not growing or shriveling up was Naruto's flames.

Going on to explain how her powers worked was another thing Kurama did, along with saying the only reason the arm hadn't fallen off yet was that he was a sun, like herself and they were harmonized, so his flames had abated easily.

On a brighter note, Naruto finally understood the pros that came with being part of project jinchuriki, the enhanced sense of smell and hearing were awesome and all. But the best part was Kurama was really good at manipulating flames like really, really good. Using his -and occasionally her own- sun and storm flames he can manipulate cells and DNA. Disintegrating them than building than building then back up. The secret being the sky harmony factor, without that the whole process would be rather painful.

It was kind of like she was a mist instead of a sky-storm-sun thing, except she had a set amount of things she could change. For example, Kurama could only make her hair blonde, red and if he tried hard enough the same orange as his fur. Unfortunately taking on Kurama's hair/fur color had some... side effects. Such as red eyes, elongated whisker marks, and the incredibly annoying urge to hunt rabbits. Her furry companion could also change her eye color from Uzumaki violet to her natural Namikaze blue to as Kurama jokingly put it Demon Fox red; height, age, weight. Hell Kurama could do just about anything - within there combined gene pool- except change her sex. When she had inquired as to why the fox had explained women had only x chromosomes, and since men had x and y chromosomes, the only thing he could in that area was temporarily increased her testosterone. Naruto had demanded to know why he couldn't just lend her a y chromo-thingy.

Kurama actually looked slightly sheepish while giving his explanation. For all talk of being male, was, in fact, a giant mass of flames in the shape of a giant sexless fox. The conversation had been fairly serious until it took an awkward turn when Kurama started pointing out that in fear of something like the ten tailed disasters happening again he had been given all the instincts of a red fox, from borrowing to becoming rather frisky in the winter.

When Naruto asked, "Frisky means playful right, what does that have to do with anything?"

Kurama had rolled his eyes and said, **"I meant the other type of frisky you moron."**

"Eh"

That was the first time Naruto experienced the heads ache that came with being kicked out of her own mindscape. She also still wasn't quite sure of what the word meant in that context.

* * *

1.6 Late Night Swim in the Grand Canal

The cold water of the Grand Canal bit against Naruto's skin but to be completely honest she didn't really mind, it served as a way to ignore the cering pain in her left shoulder and leg. Kurama was probably having a heyday, waking up from an Uzumaki Chain induced coma to flame infused bullets being shot at his favorite host.

 **"You're my only host,"** a deep voice rumbles from the back of her mind.

 _'You mean your only host that has survived for more than an hour after the procedure.'_ Naruto mentally corrects.

 **"Like I said, my only host."**

Naruto pulls herself out of the chilling waters of the canal, showing no outward reaction to the stares she was getting from the few people who were out at this hour or the jab from the fox. On the inside, however...

 _'Kurama your so mean to me!'_

...she was crying buckets of tears.

Even though the ancient being would prefer to ignore his host altogether, especially after her display of incredibly childish behavior he has to ask, **"What the hell happened when I was out?!"**

 _'We were kidnapped by the Checkerfaced asshole who took us to the meeting of the strongest seven. It turns out his strange assistant might be on drugs; I saw him smoking something when he came to give us our food. So you were right. Fon was there he gave us this storage scroll containing one of my thunder god kunai. Then I managed to escape but not before having the name Asura but to a face and meeting a ghost, a shape-shifting chameleon, mindreader, mad scientist, this immortal guy who clearly had an addiction to the color purple, and an Air Force sergeant who trains dogs. Oh, and they may or may not have been tasked with catching me alive and taking me back to Mr. Iron hat. Dattebayo.'_

 **"Anything else, kit?"**

 _'Yeah,'_ Naruto thinks while looking at her shoulder and leg which both showed no signs of improvements regarding injury, _'Are you having trouble healing the wounds?'_

 **"No"**

 _'Then why aren't they healing?'_

Kurama snorts, **"Well one of the is a tacker. So I can't just heal the wound until you get your friend Sakura to take it out later."**

 _'And the other?'_ Naruto asks already fearing the response.

 **"I left that one in because I don't heal idiots who give crappy explanations."**

* * *

1.8 Cat

It took Naruto less than a second to recognize where she was after pulling herself out of the Grand Canal; Venice, Italy. She could count the number of times she had been here on the one hand but once she took the time to memorize something it was unlikely she would ever forget.

After her conversation with Kurama, she had two priorities in mind; get ride of the tracker bullet and put it on something that moved. So she had quickly made her way to the warehouse which was still owned by the Uzumaki for god knows why. It could have to do with the fact Naruto had pestered her father into buying it. Saying it would be like a pet.

The bandages around his arm where soaked giving her one more thing to need to remedy. Seeing as the Fuzzball could only grow hair over it and change the shape -not coloring- she would have to find some type of arm covering. There was no way she was going to walk around with an overly hair arm again.

Other than that she made quick and painful work of solving the two prioritize. Removing the bullets with the Thunder God kunai and took a moment to acknowledge that Sasuke's cat onesie was still there. The small black furry thing he had refused to wear when they were younger. Naruto knew she shouldn't have been so surprised; she knew this place what have leftover supplies scattered around, that is why she had come here. But this made the pain feel fresh all over again.

The black cat onesie was incredibly musty, but Naruto had shaken it out before asking Kurama to make her smaller.

One leg had been put in the cat costume when Naruto heard the noise, the loud shriek of a cat. Both legs had been placed in the cat costume when she saw the cat. The whole ensemble had put on when she had smelled the people approaching.

The tiny blonde looked at the cat the cat looked at the small blonde. Naruto looked at the tracking bullet in her hand and back at the feline. Then she lunged for the animal.

"This is revenge for 20 years ago you bitch," Naruto whispers ignoring the irony of bitches being female dogs, not cats and the fact no normal house pet lives 20 years.

But who cares the hunt was on.

* * *

2.0 Tora

Reborn looked at his newest lackey, who was currently holding the cat out in front of him gingerly as if it were a nuclear warhead.

In all honesty, he could hardly blame the biker none of the could, that cat was a menace and he had plans to shoot the damn thing once Verde was done experimenting with it to see why it didn't die when Lal shot it or when Skull ran over it with his motorcycle.

Every single one of them had scratched articles of clothing, wounds on their arms and in various other places. Even Viper, who seemed to phase in and out of existence.

How Asura had gotten ahold of the cat to place the tracker, he didn't know, but if he had to guess he would say it had something to do the various fresh bit and claw marks on the cat.

All he really did know about the cat was that it was named Tora, its collar said so. In perfect kanji, the words Warning demon cat for hell. Name: Tora.

Below that in sloppier Italian but still legible, 'Apologize, the dope wrote in Japanese, what she wrote was, Warning demon cat from hell. Name: Tora'

This was a most unfortunate complication.

Maybe he could get Fon to admit something. If need be, he can say it is to avenge Skull who had technically -and temporarily- died.


	4. Chapter 3: Safety is Controversial

**I do not own Naruto or KHR**

 **So I have totally haven't gotten distracted by fate/zero and a new fic idea. Okay so maybe I have, and it is for this reason that I realize weekly updates aren't something I will ever be able to do. I get distracted way too easily. So yes I am terribly sorry. Please enjoy this chapter**

2.1 Boats

Navigating in the darkness hadn't been a problem for Naruto since that night all those years ago. That meant making her way through the dimly lit streets of Venice was no problem. What ended up posing a challenge was the fact that the nearest bus station was an hour away and six extremely overpowered people were chasing her.

Using her 'super sneaky ninja skills' she clung to the darkness, using it as a shield of sorts to hide her current apparel which stood out like a sore thumb. But Naruto wouldn't be Naruto if she let something as simple as clothing hold her down. Even Sakura had admitted -begrudgingly- if you can run around in orange you must have the had a pretty good sense of stealth. The moral of the story being: if you can get around in an orange jumpsuit without being spotted, a cat onesie was no problem.

Sticking to the back alleys or canals, in this case, Naruto kept moving towards the train station. Or what she hoped was the direction of the bus station. She couldn't necessarily ask given her current attire was far from inconspicuous, nor could she exactly steal a car or gondola. That would draw too much attention and would trace back to her. Unless...

Pulling out her only kunai Naruto turns her head in both directions, making sure the coast is clear. Stepping out on to the empty street Naruto approaches the nearest motorized boat and gets to work cutting the rope. When doing so with Thunder God kunai, it is not a fun task. Something one must keep I mind when using the tri-pronged kunai is there meant for stabbing, not cutting rope. That's what regular kunai are for.

 **"You do realize you could have just untied the rope, right?"**

 _'... Yeah,_ ' Replies Naruto mentally, doing her best not to sound totally guilty.

 **"I refuse to believe my host his this much of an idiot."**

Being the bigger person -would it be fox in this case?- She choices not to respond and busies herself with untying the rope. Once done she sends a silent apology to all of Venice's boat owners.

Then she takes the slightly frayed rope and wraps it around the hook oars are usually placed in. With the quick movement of her hand, she turns on the motor. Using the excess rope, she ties the engine down in such a way it stays on. Letting go of the boat and stepping back into the shadows Naruto flees the scene, not looking back.

By the end of the night, all motorized boats had been reported stolen and had been seen in various locations moving. According to a local drunk, all the boats were set up this way by a black cat.

Not far away Naruto was lying uncomfortably on the ground of a newly acquired boat heading straight for the nearest form of and transportation.

* * *

2.2 Sensor

"Why are we just sitting here?" demanded Lal for the 15th time.

Ignoring her, Reborn took another sip of his espresso. He didn't think it necessary to explain himself to her. It was his turn to call the shots.

After apprehending the feline from hell, the six of them found themselves facing a new problem. All the motorboats in Venice were moving on there own. A very childish move, Reborn has to say. But it was also very effective. Instead of taking one boat and hoping it wouldn't be found, she set up her escape in such a way they couldn't track her nor could the police.

Evidently, the Sergeant had seen this too and immediately took charge of the situation. She ordered Viper and Fon to collect information and the rest of them to chase boats. They were to meet back up at a Cafe in an hour.

Reborn founded this plan flawed and stated as much. Instead, he told Viper and Skull (he didn't trust Fon, and if he had to spend any more time with the lackey he would shoot him) to go collect information, while the rest of them go to a cafe.

So there they were, sitting at a cafe, watching rouge boats go zipping by with policemen chase after them. While Verde dissected the demon cat on the table and Reborn sipped his coffee quietly watching Fon for in sudden movement.

Ignoring both Lal's 'Dammit Reborn don't ignore me' and the stares of the onlookers who were concerned for the well being of the cat.

Taking another sip of espresso, Reborn ponders the possibility of this team staying together after they catch Asura. She is going to be part of the team to, right? Would that screw up their already faulty team dynamics?

Reborn didn't play well with others, that was one of the few known facts about him. True he worked for the Vongola, but that was the extent of his comradery. It wasn't that he disliked working with others it's just no one else was on his level.

That's why he had initially taken this job it seemed for lack of better word, fun. He would get to see if anyone else was indeed on par with him.

 _'Lair that's only part of the reason,'_ hisses the voice in the back of his mind, _'you were looking for a sky.'_

A Sky

A Sky with a hint of sun and storm

A maelstrom

Earlier that night when Asura had jumped out the window, he had felt her flames. Then they seemed just to have disappeared off of the map.

Even Reborn had to admit that required an admiral amount of skill but it wasn't something he hadn't been prepared for. He had shot the tracer bullet as a precaution. It also made a believable excuse if he had to use his sensory ability.

How Asura had known one of the bullets was a tracer was beyond him. This didn't matter though. If he had to show off his sensory ability to finish this job, so be it.

It was only a matter of time until there would be a sudden release of sky flames, a human could only go so long while suppressing there dying until it comes bursting out. Unless of course, they used a seal, which made flames invisible to trackers unless they were actively used.

The hitman stiffens suddenly. In one graceful movement he his standing, gun out and at the ready.

"Leon," he says to the chameleon as it slides off his shoulder, "Go get the lackey and Viper."

The world's greatest hitman turns around and faces his companions with a broad smirk, "The rest of you come with me."

Sky flames had been used little more than an hour away from where they were standing.

Reborn wasn't the best at what he did for no reason. Once he got a flame signature, he would never forget it.

* * *

2.3 Tickets

Tapping her foot against the ground Naruto stands in line waiting impatiently for her turn to buy train tickets. The whole process was rather dull in her opinion.

When her turn finally comes, Naruto walks up to the stall and puts the correct amount of cash on the counter, "One child's ticket, please."

The man looks a little bit exasperated as he points to the sign on his right, 'No unaccompanied minors .'

"That's not fair," complains the blonde.

"I never said it was," retorts the man.

"Come on Signore, just let me buy a ticket," begs Naruto.

Unwilling to give in to her demands the man just shakes his head, "Sorry kid."

Dissatisfied with this turn of events she scowls, a look that is quite comical on her childish face. Reaching into her pocket Naruto pulls out a -stolen- wad of euros and mutters something along the lines of 'stingy old man' before throwing half of the money on the counter.

"You will get the rest of the money when I get my ticket," she informs him.

Blinking twice the man then rubs his eyes. He apparently hadn't been expecting the child in the cat costume to bribe him or at least that's what Naruto hoped he was thinking. There always was a possibility he didn't know what to do. That had happened to her the first time she was bribed.

Apparently, this was only a Naruto thing because the man didn't look up and ask, "what's the money for?" He merely stood there for a minute before moving towards the ticket dispenser.

 **"Did you really ask, 'what is the money for' the first time you were bribed?"** Kurama asks in disbelief

 _'...Yeah'_

 **"You're a special kind of stupid."**

 _'Thanks ...hey wait-'_

The man's voice brings her out of her mental debate, "Excuse me uhh.. signorina, what name should I put on the ticket?"

Naruto smirks than to annoy her companion more she says, "Kurama."

"And your last name?"

Hesitating Naruto mulls over possible last names in her head. She needed to leave a trail, something discrete so no one other than the people she was close to could figure out. Something no one but her parents would know.

"Namikaze."

"And where are you heading?"

"Sicily."

* * *

2.4 Trails

Apparently, the hitman's usually good luck was running in short supply today. Because apparently, the man Asura had associated with was damn good at keeping his mouth shut. They had caught him in the middle of selling train tickets. This would have caused a problem if Viper hadn't surrounded them with mist flames and taken over the sales men's job.

He writhes in Lal's hold: two hands locked behind his back and Lal's leg pinning him to the ground.

Even though Reborn was positive the man couldn't slip past this blue-haired women's hold but nonetheless he could feel her annoyance rolling off in waves, "Stop squirming," he tells the man.

When the demand isn't obeying the world's greatest hitman isn't surprised -far from it. Instead, he points to Verde who was commencing part 2 of the Tora dissection, "See that man there. Well if you don't stop squirming. I let him do to you what he's doing to that cat."

The effect is almost instantaneous, all signs of physical struggle stop as the cashier nod shakily.

Reborn gives him a shit-eating grin, "See now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No," croaks the ticket salesmen, eyes still wide with fear.

Purposefully standing in front of the man the sun flame user looks down, "Now I'd you don't mind I am going to ask you a few questions."

Reborn doesn't wait for an answer; instead, he asks the same question, when he arrived, "Did you see a woman; blonde hair, blue eyes. Three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek. She is around 170.18 centimeters."

Just like before the man shakes his head vigorously denying any association with his target.

Letting out a faux sigh Reborn feigns an exasperated look, "Don't be like that, we both know it's not true."

Hiding a smile behind his sleeve Fon looks at him, "That does raise a good question though Reborn. Just how do you know do you know that."

Pulling his fedora over his eyes, Reborn dons an annoyed countenance. He didn't have to explain himself to the storm user.

He could feel the traces sky flames on the man in front of him. He could also feel the worry emanating from Fon.

Merely smirking Reborn adjust the rim of his hat with his gun, "I already told you. I'm a mind reader."

Other than taking note of the rising sense of dread coming off of Fon's flames Reborn otherwise chooses to ignore the man (he had been doing that a lot today).

"Lackey hand me the folder that's next to you," he orders.

Purposefully looking left and right, Skull then points to himself.

"Me?"

Rolling his eyes in sheer annoyance, because who else would even respond to that, "Yes you."

Muttering something under his breath about 'bitchy hitmen,' Skull hands over a manila folder.

Grabbing it from him, Reborn absentmindedly shots Skull before flipping through the pages.

"What the fuck Reborn?!"

"Shut up lackey."

Readjusting his point of focus on the man who was being held down by Lal, Reborn starts reading.

"Name: Matteo Rossi. Date of Birth January 2, 1962. Age 20. Sex Male. Does any of this sound familiar to you, Matteo?"

Given the look on the man -Matteo's face it was clear he did. Content with the fact there was a semblance of understanding Reborn continues reading, "Height 175.26 centimeters. Weight 170 pounds. Hair Black. Eyes Brown. Occupation Train Ticket Salesmen. No known affiliations. Clean Medical background-"

"That can't be right," Lal interjects.

Viper turns from her spot on the ticket booth, they were currently disguised as Matteo and were counting the money in the cash register, "Are you doubting my information?"

"No, it's just-"

This time Reborn interrupts, "Which part are you doubting and why?"

The sergeant looks hesitant for a moment before saying, "There's an odd symbol on the base of his neck, and I am pretty sure if it didn't stand for some gang affiliation, it would be on his medical record."

"Let me see," says Skull, jumping down from his spot by Viper's side on the counter, "I like tattoos."

Being a small space the stuntman closes the distance between him and Matteo in one stride. The rain barely gets out the words, "It's not a tattoo," before Skull saunter up and looks down.

The biking helmet did nothing to mask the bikers disbelief. To Skulls credit he keeps his voice steady when he asks, "Was that burned into his flesh?"

Skulls next actions hide any discontent he had by saying with his usual nuisance of a voice, "Hey guys you might wanna check this out. It's kinda weird."

Expertly changing her hold on him, Lal slams Matteo into the ground where he lands with a grunt. She then pins his arms behind his back making it easier for them to gather around and view the back of his neck.

Matteo managing to work up some nerve asks "Wait- what's on my neck?"

A seal. The source of the sky flames was the seal. An eastern style seal to be precise.

Cocking his gun and taking aim at Matteo's head, he glares at him, "You lied to me."

"Eh?" comes Matteo's response.

"You have ten seconds to tell me the truth before I start dragging answers out of you slowly."

Peering down at the seal, then adjusting his glasses with a still bloodied hand Verde interjects, "That's not necessary Reborn, the man honestly doesn't know anything."

"Ho, how can you tell."

Making no effort to hide his smug look Verde smirks, "Well this is a memory seal. When it is placed or burned in this case on to someone, it removes part of their more recent memories."

The last part of the green haired man sentence sounded more like it was for himself than anyone else but Reborn didn't particularly care. Information was information no matter how you got it. "Hey Verde is it possible to recover those memories."

It takes the scientist less than a second to get Reborn's meaning, "Of course it is."

"Wait," interrupts Skull, "What even is a seal?"

Reborn rubs his temples; he had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

* * *

2.5 Trains

"This sucks," declares Naruto to one on in particular.

Leaning her head against the glass of the window, Naruto watches the scenery passes by. The train car was reasonably comfortable. Red cushioned seats and wooden doors lined every booth.

From Sicily, it should be pretty easy to get into the nearest Mafia land. Or at least that's what Naruto thought.

Taking a bite out of the pizza she had bought from the lady in the refreshments car, Naruto wonders if she made the right decision.

The plan to get to Mafia Land as soon as possible seemed fine, but that wasn't what had her worried.

Using a pseudonym that held personal relevance was never good, but Naruto didn't have the heart to just disappear off the face of the Earth. She couldn't do that to Mom and Dad again. Leaving a trail might have been very out of character for someone with the instincts of a fox, but she didn't have much of choice.

Anyway, she chose a safe name. It's not like she walks around announcing that there is a giant fox made of flames, named Kurama sealed inside her.

The only people who knew about Kurama were her parents, Lucy, and a whole bunch of dead people.

As for the name Namikaze, well Uzumaki Minato hadn't been a Namikaze since Pervy Sage adopted him. The only people who knew this were her Mom and once again a lot of dead people.

She had also gone so far as to seal the ticket guys memories and her flames.

So she had to be pretty safe right?

Content with her choices Naruto smiles and takes another bite and out of her slice of pizza.

The pizza is gone in the next few bites. Naruto nor Kurama was sure how long she had been out, but damn she was hungry.

Stretching out her arms Naruto lets out a content sigh, "Ah that was good."

 **"I will never understand the joy you take out of ramen, that's just agh-,"** Kurama swishes one of his mighty tails for effect, **"Normal people don't worship food."**

Naruto nods sagely, _'It's a good thing I'm way too awesome to be normal then, right?'_

Kurama hides his face behind his tails, in some vulpine version of the facepalm, **"Awesome isn't the word I would use."**

"Hey!", Naruto cries indignantly getting the attention of the people in the booth next to hers who yell, 'shut up.'

Apparently, the lightheartedness of the whole situation was only meant to be short-lived because the train stops with a sudden jolt.

They weren't at the next station yet why had they stopped?

Naruto sniffs the air and wrinkles her nose. The smell of gunpowder laced the air. New people were boarding the train. Without giving anything so much as a second thought, she slams her elbow into the window. The glass cracks but doesn't break. This is quickly remedied with another by another jab.

Standing on the spot where she had been sitting a moment ago she takes a mad leap out of the train. As she lands glass shards dig into the skin of her right elbow, but Naruto doesn't care.

For some reason, she felt like this was going to be a long night.

* * *

2.6 Cars

Not that Reborn would ever admit this fact, but Skull was a damn good driver.

After finding out that Asura was a child or could make herself look like one, they wiped the memory of Matteo through use of the seal. From there it was a matter of catching up to the runaway sky. When Lal had pointed this out, Skull had lit up like a child on Christmas morning.

He had held his hands in a stop gesture saying, "Wait one minute."

It took 30 minutes for the stuntman to return and when he did it was with a car.

A purple Ferrari to be precise.

Opening the door with a huge grin, he looks at each one of them, "I The Great and Powerful Skull DeMorte shall allow you ride in my super awesome car, to help you catch this Asura person."

Reborn rolls his eyes, "In case you haven't noticed lackey there is no way we are all going to fit in that car."

"You can squish."

And so that's how four of the strongest seven found themselves crammed together in the back of Skull's Ferrari.

Going at a speed of well over 100 miles per hour doesn't seem to be enough for the cloud. By the time the narrowly miss the 11th person, they are already going 163.

"Isn't she the best?!" cries Skull over the radio and open windows.

"No she isn't," says Verde who had lost the dead cat somewhere around the second narrowly missed pedestrian.

Reborn who had given himself the luxury of shotgun looks highly amused. While this was fast, he had seen faster. He was in the Mafia after all, and they came up with some pretty weird stuff, "I've seen better."

The car stops with a sudden and screeching halt, that sends Lal, Verde, and Fon flying forward. Viper who had disappeared and reappeared on the roof of the car looks as emotionless as ever, "Mou I should charge you for that."

Skull looking like he just had an epidemic fit shakes, "What did you say?"

They frown, "I said I should charge you for that."

"No not you," still shaking Skull turns to face Reborn, "What did you say about my baby?"

"I said I've seen better."

Softly stroking the dashboard Skull cries, "He doesn't mean it ."

Lal shots Reborn a glare, "Hey Skull he doesn't know what he's talking about this is a great car."

Skull sniffs a few times, "Really?"

Lal visible cringes, "Yeah... Really."

Wiping his eyes with his sleeve Skull looks up at her, "Thanks, Lal."

"Errr... um, your welcome."

He revs the engine once more, and the vehicle roars to life. This time he doesn't even bother easing into it; the cars running at 200 mph before most of them -excluding Reborn- can comprehend what's going on.

"We have a train to catch up with," cheers Skull, who's mood did a complete 180.

How Viper stays rooted to the roof of the car, Reborn isn't sure. But he strongly suspected it had something to do with the blue tentacle-like objects that could be seen coming off the side off the car.

The sit like that for three hours; with Fon, Verde, and Lal crammed together in the back, while Viper sits on the roof and Reborn sits in the front set with the barely contained amusement at seeing everyone sans Skull so uncomfortable.

Time had passed quickly, along with the sights of the city. Now they were in the forest, not far off of Florence. Near the Giglio Nero base actually.

A faint speck -the train- appears along the horizon. Reborn squints his eyes to make sure he isn't hallucinating before giving a rough order of, "Speed up lackey."

"Don't tell the great lord Skull what to do. Besides 200 mph is the max speed. Jerk Reborn."

The hitman extends his hand allowing Leon to fall into his open grip in mallet form. Skull -not having any real combat experience or having fallen prey to the misconception of people don't get hit in the head with hammers while driving- doesn't see the mallet coming.

"The fuck Reborn!"

Skull rubs the back of his head. The car swerves at an odd angle due to the driver's current inability to do his job.

A few colorful choice words can be heard from the three people in the back once the stuntman regains control of the car again.

Even Viper poked there head through the window and added a "How are you still sane?"

To this Reborn could only shrug. He couldn't exactly say he found killing things therapeutic now, could he?

"Hey guys," Skull shouts, "I see the train."

Verde rolls his eyes, most likely aware he was going to voice Reborn's opinion, "I imagine that's why Reborn told you to speed up."

"Well, you could have just said so," Skull gripes.

With a smirk, the hitman bangs on the roof of the car, "Hey Viper Skull says he will pay you his cut of the job money if you stop the train."

An incoherent jumble of words escape the clouds lips. This is cut off when blue tentacles creep out of the front of the train bringing it to a standstill.

While Skull openly gapes, Lal's shock isn't as apparent but is still present. Another reminder the two of them come from a mafia-free background.

"Who is ready for a good old fashion train hijacking?"

This time only Fon lets out an irritable tsk at Reborn's antics.

* * *

2.7 Fresh Air

Naruto loved the outdoors; she couldn't possibly deny that. She enjoyed the feel of the baren earth, making a fire and snuggling up in a sleeping bag.

At least that's what she liked to do when she wasn't in a situation where starting a fire of kind is a bad idea, and she currently wasn't busy running for her freedom.

Naruto stops to inspect her surroundings. Trees line the forest, no visible light source anywhere as far as she could see. The trains which had been covered with blue feelers was far behind her now. The only thing she could pick up was the distance smell of gunpowder and gasoline. Her ears didn't hear anything out of the ordinary -the scurry of squirrels and the rustle of trees was all regular.

Is that what bothered her about this?

No, it was the similarity of it all.

The similarity; the place, situation, companion it was all the same.

So what if it was nine years later, nothing has changed. If she stayed on this path, she would end up in the same place.

What was even the point?

Her dream that's what kept her going before. But she has that now, and she still feels empty.

She would just end up going back home, to the same routine. All alone.

There was no point in moving forward if there was no one to come back to.

For once in her life, Kurama didn't count. As a fellow sky, he possessed strong ideals that could clash with her own. Were as a fight with a guardian could strengthen or destroy their bond -depending on the situation- a fight with Kurama could always be fatal.

The pain of being alone while surrounded by people is unbearable, but the pain of letting the ones around you down no matter how distant they are is worse.

And that is what gnaws at her. The fear of going home and not being accepted.

Why would anyone want to harmonize with her any way they would just end up being disappointed in her.

 **"Get yourself together,"** roars Kurama's voice, **"I won't allow a sniffling monkey to be my host!"**

Despite not being precisely what Naruto wants to hear, she keeps going. Even if she didn't want to keep moving forward, she had to for her precious people.

Besides she would be entering Giglio Nero territory soon.

* * *

2.8 Tuscany

When you have the power to defend yourself, it is entirely fine to act however you want. It was most likely the reasoning behind the strongest sevens loses behavior; they didn't give a damn about decorum because no one had the right to judge them.

At least that was Reborn's train of thought when the notable aura of "Fuck With Me And I Will Shot You" around him had increased to "If You So Much As Look At Me Funny You Die."

Killing intent leaked rolled him in tsunami-like waves. Even a blind man could see Reborn was in a god awful mood.

Skull shiftily pushes his fingers together, "You're not mad at us, right Reborn?"

Sarcasm drips off of Reborn's voice, "No of course not Skull."

"Oh thank god. I was starting to get really worried!"

Reborn hits the stuntman upside the head before letting out a sigh. They only had a week to catch Asura before the man in the iron hat called the whole thing off.

How had Asura known that they had caught up with her?

She had been gone by the time they got there.

Reborn's temper was running short, and at this point, he didn't exactly give a damn, if he was going to make an enemy out of 'eye of the storm Fon,' so be it.

* * *

2.9 Luce

Naruto sighs in content as she spots the women sitting on the edge of her land.

"Lucy!" calls out the blond to her fellow sky.

Luce (or Lucy if you are Naruto) frowns at the sight of the Uzumaki's bedraggled state. The Shaman was fully aware Naruto wasn't seriously injured, but lost look in her eyes spoke multitudes to the Giglio Nero boss.

Instead of pointing this out Luce smiles she would chew out Naruto later, "Come inside, I just made ramen."

The I knew you were coming is left unsaid.

* * *

3.0 Dream

 _The wind whips across her face and leaves brush against her skin._

 _Another gunshot goes off in the background and Naruto panics._

 _She had just gotten out of there, Sasuke had just gotten her out of there. There was no way in hell she could let herself get caught._

 _Tears stream down the young sky's face, as she continues to run. Every step hurts, and she knows they will be catching up soon._

 _ **"I'll lend you my power,"** says a voice in the back of her head._

In one quick jerking moment, Naruto pulls upwards. Sweat trickles down her face as looks around.

It was nothing but a dream. She's safe now in the Giglio Nero mansion.

Looking down at her right hand Naruto sighs, "Yeah nothing but a dream."

* * *

 **Please Review**


End file.
